2006-08-31

I was watching a show yesterday on TLC called "Surviving Motherhood". It's basically a show about a mommy's group and each day they focus on a different mom and her "issues" surrounding being a mother and raising children.

Well, yesterday the mommy has a 4 year old boy.

He had major anxiety issues and anger problems.

They had a psychiatrist on that said 4 year olds want independence (DUH!) and to make their own choices (DUH!).

One way to diffuse anger or anxiety is breathing techniques. But, how many 4 year olds want to do deep breathing? So the psychiatrist suggested blowing up a pretend balloon. Let your child choose the shape, the color and the size of the balloon. Then work with him to blow up that balloon. Great way to get in your breathing exercises right?

So last night in the car Zachary was escalating himself out of control. I was like "WHOAS! I can use what I learned because it was a GREAT idea!"

So, I tell Zachary to pick a color of balloon ("brown"...okay, yuck, but whateva HIS choice). And then we start to blow it up BIG. So, while he's blowing it up I'm explaining to Chuck what I saw and that I thought it was a great idea. He agreed (in his "hmph" kind of way).

Zachary got his balloon blowed up, showed it to me, then popped it. Then promptly began to fake cry louder and louder and louder.

2006-08-29

So for Chuck's 38th birthday I got him what he's always wanted. A tattoo. I *kinda* suprised him with it in the fact that he didn't know he was going to get it until that day. He was a little apprehensive because quite frankly, Chuck does NOT like pain. AT ALL. So we went out and had a wonderful dinner at Mitchell's Fish Market and discussed exactly what he wanted. And went to the tattoo shop and got it! This isn't exactly what he wanted. The one he REALLY wanted would have had to be huge in order to get the detail. And this was the perfect size for my baby...so he decided on this one. And no, my hubby is not a hairy amazon man. That is indeed tattoo ink.

All I have to say is it's freaking HAWT. I love it. Totally does it for me.Then yesterday he went and had BLONDE highlights put in his super dark brown hair. It looks SO good. He's my little surfer/collegy boy :) He's going to be one very lucky man tomorrow night!

ETA: People have asked if it was painful. Chuck said the most painful part was the outline but after about 5 minutes that wasn't even bad because the endorphins kicked in and he relaxed and was chatting music with the tat artist. He said the filling in of the lines wasn't bad at all. So I figure if he can do it, then I totally can! :)

2006-08-24

Well Sunday I started having a sore throat and sinus problems. I went out with my BFF and my hubby on Saturday night and smoked...A LOT! Way too much. But I do that when I drink and am at the bar. So I figured that it was just from the smokes. WRONG.

I felt like CRAP on Sunday night and Monday, Tuesday wasn't too bad, Wednesday everyone at work said I sounded "sexay" because my voice was so deep. That was also the day that Zachary started coughing. And then I go pick up Lucas today at school and he started crying when he saw me....I couldn't figure it out, but then I saw that he had threw up all down the front of him. Poor kiddo. Zachary still isn't feeling good, so they are making quite the whiny, clingy pair.

There has been a lot of talk lately about controlling your children's behavior at the grocery store, at home, at a friend's house, using food as a bribe to be good, be quiet, etc.

I have some major problems with that in our family unit. As always, God gave people free will to do as they choose and that means dealing with YOUR family unit as you see fit but it still bothers me. Our country is filled to the brim with overweight and downright obese people (myself included). Maybe that's why I feel so strongly about teaching my children to eat food when they are hungry and to use food as nourishment and not anything else, i.e. comfort, acheivement or love.

I grew up with the thought that if you were having a bad day, a good heaping bowl of ice cream will solve that! It's funny a little bit, because my mom and I were just talking about our eating habits and she said she does the same thing. Really? Hmmm...wonder where I learned it from!

I went to WW when I was 12-13 years old. My grandmother pretty much forced me to go. Told me that I would be fat forever and no one would want to date me or start a family. That's pretty damn convincing for a young adolescent. But every time after I went to WW and lost weight she would "treat" me to a dinner at Old Country Buffett. With bread pudding included.

I see so many people say "if you'll be good at the store, then you can have a candy bar". Why not just tell them they can have a book, or a new toy, or a balloon? That works wonders with my kids. When does it become a problem? One candy bar a week isn't bad...but then you have to stop into the store to later in the week. The kids EXPECT it. And they may not be hungry either. So that means they are learning that everytime they go to the store, it's okay to eat CRAP and eat when they aren't hungry because it's a "special treat". Nope, not for me.

And to me, the same goes for eating all your dinner to get dessert. WHY shove all your dinner in your stomach and be full, just to add more on top of that? Shouldn't you save room for dessert if you are planning on having it anyway? Now that's not to say I let my kids have dessert without eating ANY of their dinner...but yes, I do not make them clean their plates in order to eat dessert.

I beleive that a well-rounded diet can have sweets in it daily. And should!! The forbidden fruit is all the sweeter. We didn't have a lot of sweets in our house growing up. Because I would EAT them all, according to my family. But, I had a friend who had sweets in the house ALL the time and she would make different snack choices because sweets weren't a "special treat" anymore. Given the opportunity children WILL regulate themselves. Zachary has already proven that time and time again. I can't tell you how many times that child has turned down dessert or sweets telling me he'll save it for later.

What a busy month I've had! It's been sooo long since I've blogged I seriously don't even know where to start!

Well, most recently I've joined a "Biggest Loser Challange" within my mommy group and have stuck to a strict diet for 3 whole days now. And as of this morning lost 3 pounds already! Go me!!! I feel that it's my time now. One thing I've learned with weight loss...and I've done a lot of trying at that....is that you have to be in the right mind set. I think I'm there. I saw my weight last week and was like WHOAS! I'm gonna die before my boys graduate high school at the rate I was gaining weight. So it's all downhill from now on :)

We've gotten a lot of use out of our trailer this summer that's for sure! We went on our week long trip to Iowa, then the very next weekend we went camping with my family and are planning on camping again in 2 weeks with some college friends. I can't wait. The boys love camping and I think it's so good for all of us to get outdoors all day every day and enjoy what God gave us. (And get a kick ass tan at the same time!)

Work. is. crazy. My supervisor is gone this week, I've had meetings (1 that I had to chair), trainings, and dealing with ignorant, oppositional people. Oh what fun.

This weekend we'll be gone AGAIN. To my mom and dad's to take the boys and their cousins to see Thomas the Train. OMG What fun this will be! The boys have been looking forward to this for MONTHS. Literally. I can't wait to see their expressions when they see Thomas and get to ride him. Zachary told me already that he wants to give Thomas a big hug! I tried to explain that Thomas was going to be a real live BIG train...Zachary's reply? Well, he'll have a ladder on the side won't he? I can climb his ladder and give him a hug! Ah, my sensitive sweetie!

Ok, more later. And I have lots! Stories about the boys, Zachary's psychologist appt, our Iowa trip...the list goes on.